1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic data storage device which is small, portable, easily worn, and capable of interfacing with an external accessing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, in order to obtain battlefield medical data, a field medical card (DD Form 1380) is used. The field medical card is carried in a booklet by corpsmen and medics along with some type of writing implement. Once treatment has been performed, the field medical card is used to record patient identification information and pertinent medical data. Once completed, the form must be attached to the patient.
A number of obvious problems exist with this current method. For example, the form takes too long to complete, it is difficult to perform documentation at night, handwriting is often illegible, and writing instruments are highly susceptible to being lost or broken. In addition, the form is often subjected to intense environmental abuse which can obliterate that documentation which has been completed. As a result, combat casualty information recorded with the current system is generally inaccurate and incomplete.
Considering some of the patented art in this field, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,229 to LENNON et al. discloses a wearable personal/medical information device which includes a data display. Items of personal and/or medical information are stored in the device. Switches are used to display different storage data.
The device includes a detachably mounted read-only memory (ROM) unit for storing personal or medical information which is not subject to change as well as preset display data. The information stored on the ROMs of this unit may only be altered at a remote facility. Items of information which a wearer may want to change periodically are loaded in an internal RAM which may be laboriously altered using a push button to select characters one at a time, or requires a jack and a hand-held keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,374 to ROIZEN et al. discloses an interactive medical test selector for use by a patient having a screen for displaying questions to the patient, a limited number of keys by which the patient can enter answers, and a memory device for storing the patient's answers. A portion of the device is easily removable for updating the questions or altering the language of the questions. This removable portion consists of a ROM providing the operating program in the text for the device, but does not store data. The ROM does not include any individualized information about the patient.
More generally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,974 to DORNBUSH et al. discloses a system for recording data about a patient under treatment using a hand-held computer and transferring that data to a host computer. The hand-held computer is merely used to update information on the host computer and does not itself contain a complete patient history. Further, the few details provided about the hand-held computer indicate that it has no easily removable parts and only uses conventional data entry.